1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a new kinetic pump having a centerless impeller.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pumps may be generally classified according to their mode of operation i.e., volumetric displacement, addition of kinetic energy, and use of electromagnetic force. There are also lesser known pump classifications such as such as gas lift, blow case, jet ejector, hydraulic ram, and vacuum pumps. Among the three more common types, kinetic pumps are generally characterized by the use of impellers to pump high volumes of fluids at low pressures either by rapidly rotating the impeller or by imparting an impulse to the fluid in the direction of its flow.
Their are two general subclasses of kinetic pumps. The first subclass is centrifugal pumps, which class includes radial pumps, axial pumps and mixed flow pumps. A second subclass is regenerative pumps which are sometimes called turbine or peripheral pumps. Both subclasses of kinetic pumps utilize an impeller centrally mounted to a rotatable shaft, significantly differing only in the design of the impellers vanes.
The use of impellers in both subclasses of kinetic pumps creates problems that commonly plague this class. For instance, the centrally mounted impeller impedes solids handling so that kinetic pumps are prone to clogging when handling solutions containing solids. Also, pumping characteristics can only be altered by changing the revolutions-per-minute of the rotatable shaft on which the impeller is mounted. Finally, kinetic pumps are not reversible because impeller vanes are designed for pumping in only one direction, which leads to vast loss of pumping efficiency when reversed.
It is therefore a feature of this invention to provide an improvement in a kinetic pump by not utilizing a centrally mounted impeller.
It is also a feature of this invention to provide an improvement in increased capability in handling solids containing solutions over known kinetic pumps.
It is a still further feature of this invention to provide an improvement in pumping efficiency that increases with the viscosity of the fluid being pumped.
It is furthermore a feature of this invention to provide an improvement in pumping characteristics that are independent of the revolutions-per-minute of the pump and are infinitely variable.